Indian insider trading suspect in on the run in Mumbai: FBI

NEW YORK: Deep Shah, an Indian-origin suspect in the largest ever hedge fund scam in the US is on the run and is believed to be in Mumbai, federal authorities have said.

Shah, 27, and Gautam Shankar, 35, were among the 14 new suspects charged on Thursday in the USD 53 million insider trading scam by the FBI.

While Shah is a former analyst at the Moody's Investor Service, Shankar who has already pleaded guilty is a former proprietary trader at Schottenfeld Group in New York.

According to federal authorities, Shah gave insider information about Hilton Group takeover by Blackstone Group LP, to one Roomy Khan, 51, who has previously worked with Intel Corp. and Galleon who then passed it over to main accused Raj Rajaratnam who is of Sri Lankan-origin.

It is not clear at this point whether the US will request for the extradition of Shah, who is believed to be in Mumbai, or whether he can be tried in India.

Two other Indians were charged in the fraud earlier along with Rajaratnam, Galleon Group founder and one of America's richest men.